Barthomley (St. Bertoline)

BARTHOMLEY (St. Bertoline), a parish, partly in the union of Newcastle, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, but chiefly in the hundred of Nantwich, unions of Congleton and Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester; containing 2725 inhabitants, of whom 422 are in the township of Barthomley, 6½ miles (S. by E.) from Sandbach. In the civil war, a troop of Lord Byron's passing through this place, on the 22nd of December, 1643, made an attack upon the church, into which some of the inhabitants had gone for safety. The troop soon gained possession of it, and having set fire to the forms and matting, made such a smoke as caused fifteen men to retreat to the steeple, where they called for quarter; their assailants, however, having gotten them into their power, are said to have stripped them all naked, and murdered twelve in cold blood, three only being suffered to escape. The parish includes the townships of Alsager, Balterley, Crewe, and Haslington, and comprises by computation 11,000 acres, whereof 1981 are in Barthomley township: the surface is flat, and the soil light and sandy; there are several excellent beds of marl. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £25. 7. 1., and in the gift of the Trustees of Lord Crewe: the tithes have been commuted for £429 payable to impropriators, and £729 belonging to the incumbent, who has also a glebe of 90 acres. The church exhibits various styles, and has a Norman porch on the northern side ot the chancel. There are separate incumbencies at Alsager and Haslington; and a school endowed with about £10 per annum.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, 7th edition, published in 1848.